


Laundry Day

by Ljloula



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Chinese food eating, Gen, Introspective Sam, Sassy Dean, Sweet Sam, brotherly bickering, card playing, family business, on the road, shirtless time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 17:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2516222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ljloula/pseuds/Ljloula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yet another slice of life on the road for the boys - the little things life is made of when they aren't off saving the world from monsters, demons, angels etc. This time we're doing laundry, playing cards, taking off shirts. Mmm, hmm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laundry Day

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to IFIE King & Queen for helping me out when I was stuck with this tale. I think this is the longest thing I've ever written. Go me! Hope you enjoy.

Why is there always a crisis on Tuesday? First Jeanie called in 'cause her kid was sick. Now I've got two dryers out of commission, including the only double loader we have. Sighing, I picked up the phone to try my brother again. Typically, I'd already left several messages with no call back.

"Suz?...humph...what....what time is it?" my brother blearily replied.

"Finally! Mark, its 10:30 and I've been calling you all morning! “A second dryer just broke down. You promised somebody was coming yesterday to fix this!"

"Ok, ok, just...uh...lemme see..I know I had a number for that dude over in Edmond..."

Tapping my fingers impatiently while Mark was (hopelessly) looking for some random scrap of paper with a scrawled number on it, I watched a couple of guys struggling in with overflowing laundry bags.

"Ok, listen, I know it's here. Just lemme get some coffee and I'll be all over this, ok?"

Like I'd never heard that before! "Yeah fine, get yourself together and take care of this, ok? I'm already behind on the morning stuff and I have people coming in for pickups at noon."

I hung the phone up absently, mind already on how to get through the rest of the morning with minimal pain. I thought about the loads I had going - #5 was just about done, but I needed to leave a few free for the guys who'd just come in while I was on the phone. Maybe I could call Mr. A and see if he wouldn't mind picking up on his way home from work instead...

A gruff voice interrupted my planning. "Hey sweetheart, could you hook me up with some change? The machine in the back is out." I glanced over my shoulder into a pair of tired green eyes. How was that color even possible - was he wearing contacts?! Was I staring? Wait, was he wearing BOXERS with a ratty old Metallica shirt?!

“Uh...ever hear of shorts?” came flying out of my mouth without a thought. I cringed. Signature move Suz, I thought to myself.

“Oh I don’t do shorts sweetheart”, he smirked, "besides its laundry day - can't go halfway!" He held out a wad of bills. "Now how about that change?"

"You really want all that in quarters?"

"Sure do, they come in handy for lots of things." He gave me a quick handshake and a charming smile as he pressed the bills into my unresponsive hand.

"Name’s Dean, by the way, and that Sasquatch over there is my brother Sam."

I looked down the row of machines at a tall, long haired guy (sensibly dressed in shorts) who gave me a friendly wave and then narrowed his eyes to glare at his brother.

My lips twitched as I noticed that. So, younger brother then...I could definitely relate.

"Nice to meet you guys. You can call me Suz." I said as I passed over the giant load of quarters to Dean. He sauntered back towards Sam, who was busily loading all the available washers in the row. Dean dumped his change on the folding table, casually pulling off his shirt and throwing it at Sam's head as he passed.

Sam batted the shirt aside. "Argh, Dean keep your stink to yourself!"

"You love it!" Dean snorted. He turned his back and started dropping quarters into the coin boxes.

Sam promptly yanked his own shirt off and snapped it at Dean's perky boxer clad butt, causing him to yelp and drop a handful of quarters.

"Bitch...look what you made me do!"

"You started it jerk!" Dean grabbed a handful of dirty laundry and hurled it towards Sam, who ducked and lashed out with the shirt. I was mesmerized by the toned, rolling muscles of Sam's back and arms as he mercilessly used the shirt to prevent his stockier brother from closing the distance between them.

As much as I was enjoying the shirtless show, Dean's strategic retreat towards my work area threatened to topple my precious folded stacks of laundry. "Stop!” I shrieked, “you’re going to knock over the folding!" As one, the brothers froze and turned to offer me sheepish grins.

"Gosh I'm sorry...Suz was it?" said Sam, stepping closer and lightly gripping my arm. "Sometimes we get carried away.” My, he was tall....

"Oh believe me, I understand - I have an older brother too." We exchanged commiserating looks.

"Pft, I don't know what you two are talking about" huffed Dean. "C'mon Sammy, let's get on this!" I missed the warmth of Sam's large hand as soon as it left my arm. He rolled his eyes toward Dean and flashed a radiant grin back that left me breathless.

The brothers made quick work of getting the rest of their laundry started and then wandered to the chairs. Dean pulled a beat up paperback from his jacket, while Sam powered up a laptop and was soon thoroughly engrossed.

They looked harmless enough, now that they'd settled down, so I figured I could make a quick trip to the office safe to get what I needed to restock the change machine. Noting that we were getting low on rolled change, I added that to the "Mark" list in my head.

The next hour or so passed easily enough, as I went through my monotonous daily routine. This involved transferring laundry between machines, folding, packing, and then tagging loads for customer pickup. Between that and answering the phone, I absently noticed the (still shirtless) guys had started playing cards. Then I got busy with customers coming in to pick up laundry.

"Yo Suz," Dean leaned on the desk to get my attention. "What's the deal with the dryers?"

I glanced up, eyes widening at the toned expanse of chest with an intricate tattoo right in front of me. Smooth lightly freckled skin.....such deliciously broad shoulders ... Dean smugly interrupted my reverie “See something you like there?”

Flushing, I snapped out, “You wish! “ And I recovered with “Uh, cool tattoo, man.”

“Thanks Suz .” “ So the dryers?”

“I’m sorry, the boss is supposed to be sending a repairman to come look at them, but it hasn’t happened yet.” “I’m afraid it’ll be at least 30 minutes until something frees up.”

“Don’t sweat it”, Dean grinned, “if we gotta wait, we gotta wait.” “Are there any good places around here for lunch?”

“Nothing right in town – the diner’s only open for breakfast. “There’s some menus tacked on the board over there for places down the road a bit.”

Dean wandered over to the menus while Sam pulled on a clean t-shirt out of the dryer and started folding the rest of the load.

I noticed that the rain had started to pick up and as usual, business had slowed to a trickle. Nobody wanted to be dragging laundry through a downpour unless it was a true crisis situation. At least I was through the mid-day pickup rush. Now would be a perfect time for the service guy to show up.. I was just reaching for the phone to poke my brother again when a call came through.

“Gardiner Family Laundry, may I help you?”

“Hey Suz, it’s me.”

“Tell me something good Mark!”

“Sorry kid.....the repair dude is too busy to come by today. Soonest he can come over is gonna be tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oh, c’mon, you can’t be serious!?!” I cried, “Aren’t you at least going to come over and look at things yourself?!”

“You know as well as I do, there’s nobody else around here that does that kind of work, so quit your squawking.” In a more hesitant voice “And I’m the brains of the operation – Callie was the one who dealt with all the maintenance crap.”

My voice softened “I know Mark, but this isn’t going to go away and I can’t stay here to help you forever, ok?” “Listen, I’ve been making a list of other things that need to get done around here and we also need....”

“Fine, just email that list to me”, Mark interrupted, “I got another call coming in and some other things going on right now.”” “I promise I’ll read it and get right on that - you’re the best Suz!”

“Argh!!” I slammed down the phone and was startled to see Sam looming over the desk.

“I couldn’t help over hearing – it sounds like no luck with the dryers today, huh?”

I glanced up glumly at Sam. “Yeah, we’re gonna be down another day at least.”

“Actually, if you have some tools, I could take a look if you want.”

“Really?!” I was practically jumping up and down with enthusiasm. “That would be so great – are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Beats waiting around & I’m pretty handy.” I could feel the answering grin on my face as I came around the counter towards Sam.

“Hey Sammy”, Dean called from the front, “are you good with Chinese for lunch?”

“Sure, just get me the usual.” Sam turned to me and said “And what can we get for you?”

As I started to protest, Sam firmly declared “You’ve been putting up with us all morning & I can tell you’re swamped . “ “We’re buying you lunch.”

How could I say no to those dimples? “Um, ok, how about the lunch special #5, extra spicy?”

Sam relayed that to Dean as he was pulling on a shirt from the clean pile. Sam and I both snorted as we watched him stumble into a chair as he wrestled into a pair of slightly damp jeans. “The struggle continues!” Sam whispered and we both broke into a fit of giggles.

Dean glared at us as he swept past and headed out the door, car keys jingling.

Still chuckling to myself, I grabbed the tool box out of the office and Sam got right to work. He speedily detached the front and removed the drum assembly. I pulled myself up onto the folding table where I had an unobstructed view of Sam’s... assets. I did like to watch a man work.

After some minutes watching the disassembly, while folding yet more laundry, I ventured “How’d you learn your way around a dryer Sam?”

“When I was growing up, we moved around a lot and my Dad taught us a little bit about a lot of things.”

“That sounds kinda nice actually. My whole family still lives in this Podunk town. I’m just helping out my brother over the summer and then I’m headed back to school.” “I can’t wait to get out of here actually”, I sighed. “Mark’s wife died almost a year ago and he’s still kind of a mess. I’m trying to be patient, but it’s frustrating.” “He’s just avoiding making certain decisions and all I can do is wait.”

“Yeah, Sam chuckled, “Family can try your patience like nobody else.” “Hey can you come hold this piece steady for a minute?” I hopped down from the table to lend a hand.

Sam’s voice echoed hollowly from the depths of the dryer. “I couldn’t wait for that part of my life to start.” “I wanted to get out in the worst way to college.”

“Me too – even my _safety school_ was 2 hours from here!” I exclaimed. “Where did you go to college?”

“I started pre-law at Stanford, but I ....wasn’t able to finish my degree.” Sam unfolded himself and stretched. Stanford – that was a top school. Sam was obviously pretty smart!

“If you don’t mind me asking...what happened?”

He grimaced at me briefly and absently started fitting pieces back together on the front of the dryer. I caught my breath, sure I’d overstepped. “Sam...It’s ok if you don’t...”

He turned towards me and ran his hands through his hair. “Uh, no, it’s ok Suz, I just don’t talk about it very much these days.” “Basically, you could say I got back into the family business because my Dad was out of commission and my brother needed my help.” I saw a flicker of lingering sadness in his eyes as he went on “there were some deaths in the family and things kind of snowballed from there.” “I had to put my own plans on hold.”

“I guess I understand that – kinda why I’m here at the laundromat after all.” I absently started gathering up tools as I thought this through. “But how long did you have to wait to go back?” “I want to be here for Mark, but he doesn’t seem to be moving on and I honestly don’t know how much longer I can stay.”

Sam glanced over at me and I got the feeling he was talking to himself as much as he was talking to me when he continued. “Sometimes life hands you something unexpected and you have to adjust your plans.” “I’d like to go on with school someday, but it’s just not in the cards right now.” “The work my family does is important, and I feel like we make a difference in the world, so that’s what I hold on to right now.”

Tipping my head, I asked “So what kind of business is so important then?”

“Uh...we do consultant investigative work mostly, so we’re on the road a lot...”

Just then the door slammed open in a whirlwind of rain and chatter from Dean. “Man, I thought I was gonna pass Noah in the ark – it’s really coming down out there!” “Good thing I replaced the front tires last week on Baby.” “Make yourself useful Sammy and grab this bag.”

“You can set up on that extra table and I’ll grab some forks & napkins from the office” I volunteered. I was more than ready for some food! I rummaged around and managed to find some plastic cups as well. Someday, when I had another body to help man the desk, I was really going to have to get things cleaned up and organized in here....

When I came back out, Sam already had the newly repaired double load dryer busily spinning with the remainder of the brother’s laundry. We each settled in with an open carton, sharing out the rice & 2 liter bottle of Coke as needed.

 I had to admit, it was nice to be able to have a relaxing meal on a workday. Usually I was lucky to get a few quick bites of sandwich in when I was on duty alone. I could feel the tension easing out of me as we ate and bullshitted about movies and music. Turns out Dean and Sam had widely different interests and bickered with each other just like I did with Mark.

“Well Sam, it looks like the rain is slacking off, so I’ll take out the stuff that’s already dry if you help Suz clean up.”

Dean hefted two of the full laundry bags and headed out to the car. “Hey, you want any of these extra sauce packets?” Sam asked.

“Ugh, no” I rolled my eyes, “what’s even in Duck Sauce – we never use it and there’s already a pile in the office.” “It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them we don’t want it, it’s always in the bottom of the bag.”

Sam grinned “I know exactly what you mean” and tossed them into the trash.

“Sam!” snapped Dean from the doorway.

Sam’s head swung sharply around “What’s up?!”

“I just got a call from Bobby, he’s got a lead for us.” “We gotta move.”

A terse look was exchanged as Dean strode forward purposefully and started pulling half dried clothes out of the dryer.

“How far?”

“Couple of hours drive to the west.”

Without another word exchanged, Sam received items from Dean and started shoving them in the remaining laundry bags. I still wasn’t sure what they investigated, but they both looked grimmer and somehow older than the light-hearted guys I’d spent most of the day observing.

Almost before I could take it in, they were packed up and headed for the door and I was still standing with the Chinese lunch debris.

“Wait...don’t you want to take your fortune cookies for the road?!” I cried out.

I was startled by the intensity of Dean’s gaze as he turned back to me. “Nope, I already know what lies ahead for me kid” he rumbled. “Sam, let’s get a move on!”

As Dean hustled out, Sam jogged back over to me with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about Dean, he gets very focused when we have a job, so he probably came off as even more of a dick than usual.”

I couldn’t help laughing at that. “He _is_ pretty intense.”

Sam pulled a cookie from my hand and gently said “I hope things get better with your brother and the school situation.”

“Thanks again for buying me lunch and for fixing up that dryer.” He was such a sweetie; I couldn’t stop myself from saying “Do you think you’ll be back this way when your job is over?”

His large hands engulfed mine as he said “Doubtful, but you never know.”

An impatient horn sounded from outside as I reached up on tiptoe to peck his cheek. “Take care Sam.”

Like a ray of sunshine through the clouds, his radiant answering grin flashed out briefly as he picked up the last laundry bag again and headed out the door.

 

 

 

 


End file.
